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For at least one day, Ely will be the hotbed of some of the top amateur baseball talent in the upper Midwest.<BR><BR>That day would be this Saturday, when the Seattle Mariners hold a one-day tryout camp at Veterans Memorial Field.<BR><BR>Elyite Paul Starkovich is directing the camp and has lined up top prospects from high school and college baseball programs in Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota.<BR><BR>Starkovich, who played in the Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles organizations during a seven-year professional career, joined the Mariners this year as a Midwest scout.<BR><BR>He will be joined by other officials from the Mariners scouting department as they assess talent for possible selection in next month’s major league amateur draft.<BR><BR>Starkovich and the Mariners have invited nearly 30 prospects, from leading area high school talent including Josh Mathson of Babbitt-Embarrass-Soudan-Tower to top regional c

Ely sophomore Steve Milkovich has owned the triple jump at area high school boys track meets this spring.<BR><BR>Until Thursday, Milkovich had finished first in the event at each and every Timberwolves meet.<BR><BR>That streak ended when Two Harbors’ Roy Levitt won the event at the O.J. Belluzzo Invitational on a chilly spring event.<BR><BR>Milkovich, who won the triple jump five days earlier in Hibbing at the Doc Savage Invitational, was second to Levitt.<BR><BR>Nonetheless, Milkovich’s performance have been among the highlights for the Timberwolves, who finished an impressive fourth out of 14 teams at Thursday’s meet and wound up ninth in an 18-team field at the May 8 Doc Savage.<BR><BR>Depth helped the Wolves Thursday.

Ely had an individual winner and two first-place relays at a May 6 high school girls track meet at Virginia.<BR><BR>The Timberwolves’ big day included a winning effort by senior Julie Anderson in the 3,200 meter run. She finished first in 12:33.<BR><BR>Anderson also was part of the Wolves’ first-place 3,200 relay, joining Raychal Zupancich, Casey Sovil and Jenna Klein to win in 10:33.<BR><BR>Ely also got a win in the 1,600 relay, as Klein, Kelly Chaudoin, Carolyn Freeman and Ali Schulze teamed up for a run of 4:27.6.<BR><BR>The Wolves added a second in the same relay, as the combination of Schulze, Taryn Cunningham, Tomi McDonald and Lexie Barker gave Ely a one-two finish.<BR><BR>Freeman and Sovil both contributed second-place finishes for the Wolves.<BR><BR>Freeman was the runner-up in the 300 hurdles in a time of 51.5 seconds.

After a rare defensive breakdown, Ely’s high school baseball team, returned to previous form last Monday at Chisholm<BR><BR>Senior Josh Weckman was in command on the mound, while the Timberwolves also had good defense and timely hitting in a 13-2 rout of the Bluestreaks.<BR><BR>Ely, 9-2, bounced back from a pair of less than stellar outings the previous weekend, when they shaded Silver Bay 11-9 and suffered a 10-0 defeat at Hermantown.<BR><BR>“After the Hermantown game, we needed a good outing and we got it,” said Ely Head Coach Frank Ivancich. “We needed to get back on the winning track and gear up for some of our big AA games, and I thought we put everything together.”<BR><BR>The Timberwolves, who cracked the state rankings last week landing at the number 10 spot in AA, faced Virginia and Duluth Marshall over the weekend in pivotal Section 7AA seeding contests.

For the Vermilion Ironmen, a difficult season ended on a positive note.<BR><BR>Sophomore pitcher Joel Reed led the community college baseball team to a 10-4 victory over Northern Division champion in the May 1 season finale, firing a four-hitter and fanning 10 batters.<BR><BR>The win was one of just five this spring for the Ironmen, who finished 5-19 in division play and 5-27 overall.<BR><BR>But if there was a silver lining for VCC, it was their play over the last 10 days of the regular season.<BR><BR>In addition to the win over Itasca, Vermilion swept a doubleheader against Northland and had close losses to Fergus Falls and Mesabi, the second and third-place teams in the division.<BR><BR>“I thought we started to play better at the end,” said Vermilion Head Coach Ray Podominick.

A dramatic play at the plate ended a busy - and otherwise successful - five game in four day stretch for Ely’s high school softball team.<BR><BR>Candice Smrekar was thrown out at the plate on a perfect relay throw from centerfield, snuffing out an Ely rally in the seventh inning and allowing Mesabi East to preserve a 7-6 win Tuesday at Hoyt Lakes.<BR><BR>The Timberwolves, who finished second in a May 1 tournament at Hill City and blasted Nashwauk-Keewatin in five innings Monday, nearly pulled off what would have been a remarkable comeback against the Giants.<BR><BR>Trailing 7-2 in the seventh, Ely loaded the bases on hits by Jackie Lekatz, Ashley Niskala and Linda Wiegman.<BR><BR>Sophomore Kelsey Ivancich then delivered the key blow of the inning, a grand slam home run that suddenly made it a one-run game.<BR><BR>Ely wasn’t done yet.

Take two premier pitchers with quality defense behind them.<BR><BR>Add some timely hitting.<BR><BR>Throw in some heads-up baserunning for a little spice.<BR><BR>For the Ely Timberwolves, that’s been the recipe for success thus far in the high school baseball season.<BR><BR>Ely ran its record to 7-1 last week with a pair of impressive victories.<BR><BR>Lefty Tim Scott tossed a six-hitter with nine strikeouts Monday as the Wolves blanked visiting Greenway 3-0.<BR><BR>And in the only regular season showdown between two of northern Minnesota’s top small-school squads, Josh Weckman shut down the high-powered offense of Babbitt-Embarrass-Soudan-Tower and pitched Ely to a 6-4 win before 250 fans at Veterans Memorial Field.<BR><BR>Scott and Weckman have given the Wolves a one-two pitching combination that few area teams can match, and they’ve been aided by an experienced supporting cast.<BR><BR>T

Take two premier pitchers with quality defense behind them.<BR><BR>Add some timely hitting.<BR><BR>Throw in some heads-up baserunning for a little spice.<BR><BR>For the Ely Timberwolves, that’s been the recipe for success thus far in the high school baseball season.<BR><BR>Ely ran its record to 7-1 last week with a pair of impressive victories.<BR><BR>Lefty Tim Scott tossed a six-hitter with nine strikeouts Monday as the Wolves blanked visiting Greenway 3-0.<BR><BR>And in the only regular season showdown between two of northern Minnesota’s top small-school squads, Josh Weckman shut down the high-powered offense of Babbitt-Embarrass-Soudan-Tower and pitched Ely to a 6-4 win before 250 fans at Veterans Memorial Field.<BR><BR>Scott and Weckman have given the Wolves a one-two pitching combination that few area teams can match, and they’ve been aided by an experienced supporting cast.<BR><BR>T

The Vermilion Ironwomen won one slugfest and lost another Tuesday at Hibbing.<BR><BR>Six Vermilion players rapped out two hits each as the community college softball team beat the Cardinals 8-6 in the first game of the Northern Division twinbill.<BR><BR>And despite a four-for-four performance by Heather Santi and three hits by Ely native Andrea Whiting in the nightcap, the Ironwomen were unable to keep up with Hibbing’s bats and fell 22-14.<BR><BR>Vermilion, which wraps up regular season play this week, is 5-13 for the season.<BR><BR>Both games had twists and turns, with the Ironwomen prevailing at the end of the first game and Hibbing countering in the second.<BR><BR>VCC took a 6-1 lead with a six-run second inning, but the Cardinals tied it at six by the end of the fifth.<BR><BR>That set the stage for the Ironwomen in the sixth, when Whiting singled home fellow Elyite Cara Bigelow for the go-ahead run.

The last time they met, high school baseball rivals Ely and Babbitt-Embarrass-Soudan-Tower combined for 37 runs, 29 hits and three hours of playoff drama.<BR><BR>The Timberwolves and the Beavers are in different playoff divisions this spring and with ace pitchers Josh Weckman and Josh Mathson set to meet on the mound, it's doubtful there will be as much offense in Tuesday night's (7 p.m.) game at Veterans Memorial Field.<BR><BR>But both teams are likely to bring a full supply of intensity to the Arrowhead Conference game, the only scheduled meeting between the two teams this year.<BR><BR>Both the Wolves and the two-time defending Section 7A champion Beavers head into the game on the heels of strong starts.<BR><BR>Ely is 5-1, including a pair of wins last week fueled by dominating pitching efforts by Weckman and Tim Scott.<BR><BR>BEST has won five straight and six of seven this spring with Mathson, who has more hom